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So I have been reading for 10 years and still I like to do a mini reading each night for myself from 1 card pulls to 3 card spreads. I pull the cards and journal what I think it will mean. Then the next day I go through and look at the cards again (I leave them by my nightstand) and see if I notice any alternate meanings. I have discovered many different angles to look at cards doing this. Also meanings I wouldn't have thought of. I alternate decks every 3 days or so, that way I can always have exposure with all my decks.

Interestingly enough I have been trying to get pregnant. As I was trying back in December I kept getting The Empress reversed. Sure enough I got pregnant then miscarried. We started trying again and this time I continually got the Death card. Like not once or twice but 3-4 times a week no matter shuffling etc and with several different decks. This very much disheartened me because since I had a miscarraige and Death can at times mean death or things ending (would I not be able to carry)?

Then one day it hit me...Death.. A often painful (Labor/Delivery) end to a way of life (Freedom of not having a baby) that leads to a necessary and better change (New life with baby). So painful transformation to something better. No matter how much you want a baby it is very hard when they are first here (I have another child) and you lose freedom and can be frustrating, tiring and overwhelming. However it is so worth it in the end when you get your feet under it. Painful transformation in literal sense labor and delivery fit that bill.

So I am now a few months pregnant and well past the stage of miscarrying. I have a strong healthy pregnancy so am now getting ready to face that painful transformation. Ever since I came to this "Dawning" I stopped getting the Death card.

Just thought I would share perhaps a non-traditional view of this card relating to something I didn't think of before. :o)

Thanks for sharing that! You know, I've got two decks that show a pregnant woman on the Death card - the Deviant Moon Tarot, and the Tarot of the Dead (the only non-skeleton in the deck, Death shows a live pregnant woman).

Wow I don't have any decks that show a pregant person, that is VERY interesting to me. What kept really sticking out to me when I looked at it that made me change my way of thinking was the black flag with the full white bloom in it. The black flag like a dark womb and the white bloom forming inside like a baby, white of innocence and beginnings.

Your very welcoming. I have discovered meanings that are non-traditional I guess you could say but this was the most profound yet struck me as so obvious once I saw it. However one doesn't usually think Death would point to pregnancy and new babies...hehehe.

Congrats on the pregnancy! Yes, I can see Death as pregnancy, meaning an end to life as you now know it. It's funny, when thinking about this card, the Mythic Tarot image popped into my head before the RWS image. (The RWS images usually pop first.) I can't find a link to the image from the Mythic, but it shows a child holding a daisy(?) standing before Hades while her mother and father kneel behind her. They are all on barren landscape, but across the river are lush hills and sunrise.

Rodney

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Smile. It makes people wonder what you're thinking....

Another way Death is linked to birth - and its a morbid outlook, but hey, we are talking about Death here...

from the moment we are born, we are on the path toward Death... cells almost immediately start dying and being replenished and the one thing you can say for certain about a creature that has been born is that, no matter what happens in between, one day that creature will die.

In terms of pregnancy, not only does your old life die... but for most of us in this day and age, that is the closest we come to facing Death up close and personal before the day we actually do die... we face the possible mortality of our child, and also of ourselves... until very recently, any woman approaching her due date was extremely aware of the high odds that she might not live to see her child.

(I'm not entirely comfortable raising that in what is a happy and joyous situation for you, but I do wonder if - having experienced miscarriage - the notion of Death is not intricately tied to the upcoming birth... that it is not something you can ignore because you've been there - many of us would not have that association - but for you there is a connection and one you need to deal with)

Another way Death is linked to birth - and its a morbid outlook, but hey, we are talking about Death here...

from the moment we are born, we are on the path toward Death... cells almost immediately start dying and being replenished and the one thing you can say for certain about a creature that has been born is that, no matter what happens in between, one day that creature will die.

In terms of pregnancy, not only does your old life die... but for most of us in this day and age, that is the closest we come to facing Death up close and personal before the day we actually do die... we face the possible mortality of our child, and also of ourselves... until very recently, any woman approaching her due date was extremely aware of the high odds that she might not live to see her child.

(I'm not entirely comfortable raising that in what is a happy and joyous situation for you, but I do wonder if - having experienced miscarriage - the notion of Death is not intricately tied to the upcoming birth... that it is not something you can ignore because you've been there - many of us would not have that association - but for you there is a connection and one you need to deal with)

I thought about this too and you are very right. However my intuition keeps hitting me that it is more the labor process. Last time I was in labor, holy cow it was bad and I almost did die. I lost a lot of blood and had to have a transfusion etc. As you say it is the closest we come to death and the thought of labor again terrifies me I won't lie, it isn't fun. Especially since painkillers such as epidurals don't work on me! So that is what made me realize for me is the painful transformation...we hear this a lot "painful transformation"...labor well no kidding! When I got this card the first time I pulled the equivelent of death from the Celtic dragon where the dragon is roaring in what seems to be pain as his old skin sheds off and new white shining skin shows beneath. That is where the painful transformation thought came from. However my cousin has a baby and he died in 10 days and it about killed me. She is like my sister and I was there when he came into this world and there when he left us. In addition one of my best friends lost her pregnancy at 6 months the baby just died. So I am also working through a lot of feelings of fear. However I think it is all wrapped up together and the strongest intuition I get from it is the transformation aspect as well as confronting and working through the fear of pregnancy which often involves pain, massive change in life pace and of course sadly death of mother or child. So I think the card plays into pregnancy in many different angles, you are very correct in this.
The other cards I have been getting around Death have been positive which is good. I have pulled The Sun and the 3 of Cups around death several times. In the mystic dreamer I pull the 6 of cups which shows a woman and her child in the market looking at flowers. Funny thing is I often think about when my 15 year old was a young girl and the picture reminds me of us. We had lots of fun when she was little. So I just hope all will go well. The cards indicate it and I am keeping positive. :o)

Death is the inevitable consequence of life, so it is VERY appropriate that this card be intimately related to pregnancy. Birth, the giver of form to spiritual force, is also the grim reaper who will rend form and return force to other purposes.

Life and Death are diametric opposites, and like all opposites they spring from a familiar union.